“VILLA DIODATI” HAS NOW FINISHED!
You can download the finished collection of ghost stories here…
Villa Diodati (PDF version)
Villa Diodati (ePUB version)
Villa Diodati (MOBI version)
You can also download the Scrivener (v3) project file and macOS compile formats used to create the book.
A massive thank you to everyone who took part – it was awesome! 
THE ORIGINAL POST AND INSTRUCTIONS FOLLOW…
This October we’re hosting a different kind of writing event
The summer of 1816 was unseasonably wet and miserable. A near bankrupt, scandal-plagued Lord Byron had fled England and was staying at a villa near Lake Geneva with his personal physician, John, and their new friends Percy and Mary. The relentless deluge kept them indoors, so they passed the time reading ghost stories to each other from a collection of magazines that came with the house. When those ran out, Byron suggested they have a competition to each write a ghost story.
John wrote “The Vampyre”, the first modern vampire tale that went on to inspire Bram Stoker and spawn countless toothy progeny across the following centuries. For her contribution to the game, the 18 year old Mary Godwin crafted a tale that proved to be one of the most imaginative psychological ghost stories ever written, and in the process single-handedly invented Science Fiction. Before it was published, Mary and Percy got married and she changed her last name to Shelley…
Villa Diodati
Different from our usual NiaD approach, we’re running an event inspired by the Year Without Summer that changed fiction forever - and would love you to take part!
Participants will submit an original ghost story which we’ll be publishing in a collection that will be released in the usual formats — ePub, Mobi, PDF and, of course, as a Scrivener project.
You won’t be following a set brief (other than the genre), although you can check out a set of prompts and suggestions we’ve pulled together that you can use for idea generation if you wish… or ignore if you don’t! And to be clear — by “ghost story”, we mean literally anything inspired by that prompt, be it spooky, scary, sweet or sassy; horrifying, hilarious, heartwarming or, erm… hinteresting?!
When is this taking place?
The deadline for submissions is midnight (UK time) on the evening of Sunday 27th October, and we’ll make a bit of a community event around the deadline weekend (26/27th, just before Hallowe’en) in much the same way that we normally do on “NiaD Saturday”, whether you’re spending that weekend drafting, or just using it to give your story one last edit (although, feel free to submit any time before the deadline weekend and simply heckle!).
The completed collection will then be given a generous dose of Scrivener magic to create a lovely finished product that we’ll publish later that week in time to enjoy for Hallowe’en.
How do I sign up?
The event is live, RIGHT NOW. You can start planning and writing immediately. All that we ask is that you sign up for a forum account (if you’re not already a member), and post here to let us know that you’re taking part so we can add your name to the list.
Once you sign up, you’ll be sent a copy of the various prompts (this will come out over the next few days)… which, again, you are free to use or completely ignore! — and remember: the normal rules of NiaD plot secrecy don’t apply, so you’re encouraged to share how things are going and make a bit of a community around the event throughout the month!
Any other rules / guidelines?
You will retain all the copyright in your submission and are free to use it elsewhere as you see fit. By submitting you are confirming that you are the author of the work and hold the copyright and that you grant an irrevocable perpetual licence to Literature and Latte and Novel in a Day to include the work in the Villa Diodati publications.
The maximum word count is a generous 3,000 words. There is no minimum word count; if you can tell a unique and original ghost story in just a haiku — that’s absolutely fine by us!
More details on submission formats and where to send your finished piece are in the pack linked here (and also being sent to people via DM once they’ve signed up).
(Basically you’ll be emailing it to Pigfender – his email address is in the linked pack, but not put here because that generates ridiculous amounts of spam).
AB17 
gr 
pigfender 